Official Says Suspicious Package Not Bomb

Published 8:00 pm, Wednesday, July 2, 2003

Employees at a rental agency near La Guardia Airport discovered a suspicious package and a handgun in the trunk of a car, police said Thursday.

An investigator described the package as "a flare with a fuse." A city official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the package was not a bomb.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the workers who opened the truck of the vehicle at National Car Rental saw what appeared to be some type of automatic weapon with a "device" attached to it.

The car had not been returned by the renter and instead was retrieved by the agency because it was overdue by several days, according to David Gilman, a spokesman for National Car Rental.

The records regarding the car and the person who last rented it have been turned over to police, Gilman said. He added that the renter had a valid driver's license and credit card.

"We were grateful we were able to take the car off the street quickly, safely and without incident," Gilman said.

Police and Emergency Service Unit squads were called to the agency at about 10:45 a.m., said police spokeswoman Carmen Melendez. The car was parked on the second deck of a garage, and police blocked off the area.

The incident followed reports of suspicious packages Wednesday that led police to shut down three major subway lines in New York. The Brooklyn Bridge was also shut down temporarily after a caller told police he had been offered money to drive a car onto the span. None of the reports Wednesday proved a danger to the public.